RCA Records
1989
Vanity/Nemesis
About This Album
Few bands in the metal world get a second chance after a major career misstep, and no band exemplifies this problem more than Celtic Frost. Two albums ago (Into the Pandemonium), they were pioneering avant-garde sensibilities in the thrash genre and wooing audiences and critics with their vast abilities. Then everyone but leader Tom Warrior quit the band, and the next album (Cold Lake) ushered in a new sound and a glam image that turned fans and critics away in droves. So after getting back original bassist Martin Ain, Warrior blended the two lineups and decided to get back to his roots on Vanity/Nemesis. Crafting a grinding chug that emphasized their mastery of thrash metal, the album was an ugly beast that offered a unique sound that no bands have really tried to adopt since. Whispered passages and wildly experimental guitar solos are two of the elements that carry from song to song, while the thick riffs of their pre-Cold Lake sound manage to survive the transition quite easily. This all adds up to a mean little album that spits out vicious songs that have such a strange and arty bent to them that it borders on parody at times. That isn't to say that the songs aren't still juggernauts, but the lyrics to tracks like "Phallic Tantrum" are so vague and heady that they don't even achieve the goal of making the listener think.
Track List

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